A BOLTON family has sent a sincere thank-you to big-hearted social club regulars who enabled a young mother to visit the hospital where her seriously ill daughter is recovering.

The social club members came to the aid of Great Lever mother Anna Cummings after the BEN revealed her plight after her three-and-a-half month old daughter was admitted to the Royal Bolton Hospital with breathing problems.

As the youngsters condition deteriorated she needed urgent ventilation but the hospital did not have the facilities to help the desperately ill youngster and specialist children's hospitals in the North West had no room for her.

In a last ditch bid to save the stricken youngster doctors found Gemma a place at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

And today after several anxious days she is now on the road to recovery.

Gemma's father Colin Wilson, 23, has been at his daughter's side throughout, but the emergency move left 21-year-old Miss Cummings in the agonising position of having to stay at home to care for the couples' other four children during her daughter's hour of need.

As Gemma began to recover Miss Cummings' anxiety increased because she realised that her daughter would need a lengthy stay in the hospital and she could not afford the travelling expenses to see her.

But all that was to change thanks to the generosity of members at St Mary's Social Club in Horwich who read about it in the BEN and came to her aid.

Gemma's grandparents Anne and Robert Cummings, of Leverhulme Avenue, Great Lever, say they have been "overwhelmed by the generosity of local people".

Mrs Cummings, 47, said: "Robert's mother Betty McGrath has worked behind the bar at St Mary's for years. Some of the regulars read the story in the BEN and decided to collect enough money for Anna to travel to Sheffield to see Gemma. It will mean that Anna can have more time with her daughter which otherwise she would not have had."

Miss Cummings made the journey to the Sheffield hospital on Thursday.

Meanwhile youngsters at Sts Peter and Paul School, Pilkington Street, where two of Miss Cummings other children Nathan, four, and Ashley, five, attend have been saying prayers for young Gemma.

"Everyone has been wonderful and very supportive," said Mrs Wilson. "We cannot thank them enough."

The family are now waiting for a reply from Prime Minister Tony Blair after grandfather Robert Cummings wrote telling him of the family's plight and calling for facilities to treat seriously ill children closer to home in Bolton.

In his letter to Mr Blair, Mr Cummings pleads for action to be taken as a matter of urgency.

"I don't want any of my grandchildren to die in some far flung part of the country and neither do the rest of the Bolton people," Mr Cummings tells the PM. "It is simple. There are no beds for children's intensive care or not enough in Bolton. We need the machines for intensive care please can you help."